Is the extra $$ for the Long Range AWD worth it over the Standard RWD?

[garu]

I used to have a SR, recently sold it and currently waiting for Model Y LR RWD.

The range is ok if you have reliable charging at work/home. Not really for road trips, a 7-hour drive for a gasoline car would take 8 hours in a LR and 9 hours in a SR (need to charge more frequent, and charge speed is slower due to smaller battery)

I think SR is great for commuting and if your road trips are only under 300 miles (back and forth)

 

[boiler81]

Get the biggest battery (range) you can afford. AWD is great too, especially if you drive in wet or snow.
I don't believe anyone every complained that they have too much range, and remember in cold winter conditions you can easily lose a third or more range.

 

[jrweiss98020]

Hi! I recently ordered a Standard Tesla Model 3 but wondering if it's worth upgrading now to the Long Range? Obviously winds up being nearly $10K difference plus I live in Massachusetts which means I don't qualify for rebate of $2,500 at that stage since car will come in over $50,000. I wish you got a little more for the money in terms of back seat leg room or something besides some extra MPGs. Thanks!

You can't have too much range!

If you can afford it, get the LR AWD.

 

[Michelle_eriw]

Thanks. Yeah I wasn't willing to settle on color for exterior so upgraded there but kept regular tires. On website it says my total due is $53,458.

Does that include tax and title? Sounds like it does to me. If so, the price is under $50K. Here's what it should be (Note that you can add white interior and still come in ten bucks below $50K.):

 

[phluppsen]

Mhm. I'm always surprised by everyone recommending getting the biggest battery possible. Had the car for a couple of months and put well north of 10k miles on it. Don't have a charger at home, but free charging at pretty much every grocery store / shopping area around me. Have done a couple of trips in excess of 1000 miles there and back and must say that I haven't run in a situation where I'd wished for the larger battery. It is likely that I'd saved a couple of minutes each trip, but to me that is not worth the extra money, weight and use of resources. After all, 2 LR batteries make 3 SR+ packs.

Since having the car, I got to drive around (with) many people in the car and after having long discussions about the car itself, and electric mobility in general, there was only ever 1 person that I would've recommended the larger battery version to. The SR+ is a fantastic car, and I believe that Tesla made a good decision to scrap the SR. The SR+ is more than good enough to replace most conventional cars and it is on par, if not better, than most non-Tesla electric cars in terms of price, range and travelling speed.

Surely, the SR+ is inferior to the other versions on paper, but on paper only. 360 days of the year, you won't notice the difference. I'm happy owning the cheapest Tesla and I believe most of the LR owners would be more than happy with the SR+, if that was the only option available.

 

[duanra]

Another way to think about it.
What are you going to do with the awd that you can't do with the rwd.
And what will you be able to do with an extra 10k in the pocket that you certainly can't do without the extra cash.

 

[OCR1]

Don’t forget about battery degradation when making a decision about SR vs LR.

Our LR RWD had 325 miles of range when we first bought it. We charged it up last night for a road trip and it only charged to 299 miles at 100%. That’s almost 10% loss. It’s still plenty of range for our needs but imagine if you had an SR and after a year you lost 10% range. Would you still be happy with your decision?

 

[Raechris]

Hi! I recently ordered a Standard Tesla Model 3 but wondering if it's worth upgrading now to the Long Range? Obviously winds up being nearly $10K difference plus I live in Massachusetts which means I don't qualify for rebate of $2,500 at that stage since car will come in over $50,000. I wish you got a little more for the money in terms of back seat leg room or something besides some extra MPGs. Thanks!

AWD can be configured less than 50k and qualify for MOR-EV incentive. Plus you can then upgrade with Boost. Also regen to zero is great feature of AWD. Having a MS75D there are certainly times the AWD makes all the difference- not just during winter. I also live in MA.

 

[duanra]

I've been driving a rwd for the last 2 years in Canada. The main issue is that the car is low and can get stuck in a snow bench.
Having an awd won't make any difference.
A higher car would help, the y or the x i suppose.

As for the range, more range is obviousely nicer of course. However i never ran in a situation where i had to charge to 100%.

On a 500 miles road trip, an awd would have saved me 1 stop of 20 min.

 

[LionXng]

Surely, the SR+ is inferior to the other versions on paper, but on paper only. 360 days of the year, you won't notice the difference. I'm happy owning the cheapest Tesla and I believe most of the LR owners would be more than happy with the SR+, if that was the only option available.

0-60 in 5.3? 365 days a year I would absolutely 100% notice the difference between the two cars.

 

[MentalNomad]

One additional thing to remember is redundancy.

If you have the dual motor system, and you have a drive motor failure, then you may be able to drive to service. It depends on the mode of motor failure, but sometimes the car can go into limp mood and you can keep driving.

It turns out that limp mode can still do 50 mph on the highway and get you to service just fine.

On the other hand, the rear wheel drive version is more energy efficient in an absolute sense. if I had it to do over, I would very likely get rear-wheel drive because I value the energy efficiency a lot. I actually bought the dual motor version because back in the early days when I bought it, some of us had the impression that the dual motor might be more energy efficient because it could theoretically get more regenerative braking energy back.

That turns out not to be the case, and carrying the weight of the extra motor around does reduce your efficiency.

 

[Erin W.]

Mhm. I'm always surprised by everyone recommending getting the biggest battery possible. Had the car for a couple of months and put well north of 10k miles on it. Don't have a charger at home, but free charging at pretty much every grocery store / shopping area around me. Have done a couple of trips in excess of 1000 miles there and back and must say that I haven't run in a situation where I'd wished for the larger battery. It is likely that I'd saved a couple of minutes each trip, but to me that is not worth the extra money, weight and use of resources. After all, 2 LR batteries make 3 SR+ packs.

Since having the car, I got to drive around (with) many people in the car and after having long discussions about the car itself, and electric mobility in general, there was only ever 1 person that I would've recommended the larger battery version to. The SR+ is a fantastic car, and I believe that Tesla made a good decision to scrap the SR. The SR+ is more than good enough to replace most conventional cars and it is on par, if not better, than most non-Tesla electric cars in terms of price, range and travelling speed.

Surely, the SR+ is inferior to the other versions on paper, but on paper only. 360 days of the year, you won't notice the difference. I'm happy owning the cheapest Tesla and I believe most of the LR owners would be more than happy with the SR+, if that was the only option available.

Thanks and you make very good points. I got a little emotional with this decision - thinking faster and AWD for snow purposes would be worth it. I upgraded and will live with decision

 

[SlimJim]

4.4 sec vs 5.0 sec.
With the boost it becomes 3.5 vs 4.7 sec.

 

[Pdadoc]

Have to say I'm not completely clear on what is "counted" when being under 50K for the rebate, even after searching. But I'd suspect that taxes are not included, and hopefully not Destination/Documentation either-- anyone have info on this?!

 

[Michelle_eriw]

My initial order was for a LR+ without FSD; I could have financed about ten grand; I wound up getting LR with FSD, and am financing about $26K.